Defend the Indefensible: Live (the band)

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I saw them in Central PA right before they got big, in like August 1992, and they played on the back of a flat-bed truck and performed a pretty rocking set in the middle of an afternoon. They confused the frat boys they would in later years convert to fans with their pretentious power-balladry.

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

They were ahead of their time in adopting a google-proof name.

― briania (briania), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Saw them headline a show which also included ~~Sponge and~~ Love Spit Love. Can an opening band be used as a defense?

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

the fact that i've seen these guys more than any other band in the world is horrifying, humiliating, and should render my opinion about anything else in the future null and void.

live was actually my first concert, age 13/14 with my dad, saw them several years later in a shitty club in Raleigh, NC, then four (!) times opening for the counting crows back when i was dating a girl obsessed with the latter.

i can defend some of mental jewelry (esp. beauty of gray and the mirror song), most of throwing copper (even pillar of davidson, i can't help it, when they played that song in Raleigh i felt like i was in the middle of a Promise Keepers convention, and I strangely enjoyed it), Lakini's Juice is definitely still worthy, and yes Dolphin's Cry is OK (not just for laughs) - haven't heard a thing off the last two albums though, and don't plan to.

band's defining moment : the playing of "dam at otter creek" during a particularly harrowing desert scene in the pauly shore vehicle "in the army now"

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

― Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

the best thing about them is that singer Ed whatever was dating Beth Sorrentino around the time that they blew up. she, of course, sang and played piano with the wonderful acoustic indie-pop group Suddenly, Tammy!, makers of wonderfully sweet and arguably twee songs that still grab me to this day.
as a side note, i discovered ST! while following Suede on their first US tour, for which ST! was the opener...

― heywood jablomi (heywood), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

The video for "I Alone" is so hilariously cheap. I love how the drummer doesn't have drums but he runs around with his drumsticks anyway for some reason. Beavis and Butthead did the definitive mocking of this video however.

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

The post that revived this thread is utterly unique in the history of ILM threads-about-crappy-bands revivals.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, I posted three times without mentioning that when I saw them live on the Secret Sahmadi tour (which EVERYODY was calling Secret Sodomy) I actually enjoyed it except for the ballads, the worst being "Turn My Head" (and cough). For some reason Ed K ran out wearing a feather boa for the encore - it was probably a mid '90s "irony" thing. I got to see it for free since I was reviewing it for the local paper. I'm surprised I enjoyed it at all cuz I got into my first car accident right beforehand, but I did.

My sister and me would always count the number of times Ed K touches his head in the "I Alone" video. It was tricky cuz sometimes it would like he was about to and then he'd change his mind. I think he wasn't used to been entirely shorn yet.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 05:45 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I have a stupid/simple questsion, how do you pronounce this band's last name? Is it LAIV or LIV?

― Chris Blake, Friday, 12 May 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

they stuck a long vowell mark over the "i" so I in thier logo, so I assume it rhymed with strive.

They were awful.

― bendy (bendy), Friday, 12 May 2006 18:48 (twenty years ago)

Worse name for a band -- "Live" or "The Band"?

― Pessimist (Pessimist), Friday, 12 May 2006 18:57 (twenty years ago)

It was tricky cuz sometimes it would like he was about to and then he'd change his mind.

this is totally hilarious.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 12 May 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

"LAIV" ?????

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 12 May 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

remember that song tricky did with ed?

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:05 (twenty years ago)

"Now that I understand this right/Let me take it to the mike/This revolution/Has just begun"

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:06 (twenty years ago)

and so it began

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:07 (twenty years ago)

the revolution

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:07 (twenty years ago)

the great battle of our time

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:08 (twenty years ago)

ed kowalczyk vs. a microphone

― gear (gear), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:08 (twenty years ago)

"Lightning Crashes" sounded pretty good on the radio. Except for the unnecessary and bad-sounding bridge.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:25 (twenty years ago)

I heard from a fan of theirs that they meant the name to be "live" as opposed to "die" but everyone called them live as in perform live, so they just went with it.

In addition to a few mentioned here, "TBD" (for Tibetan Book of the Dead, yes, pretentious) was an OK song. And their MTV Unplugged wasn't that bad.

X-post - I saw them once (and apparently this happens at all the shows) but the audience always claps along to Lightning Crashes, and because it's such a slow song they inevitably get off beat, and the result is a hilarious arythmic jumble.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 12 May 2006 22:31 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Somehow or other, through all the miscellaneous purges and inadvertent losings of CDs, my copy of Throwing Copper has managed to not quite get thrown out of my crappy little CD binder. I've been spinning it lately at studio and either I'm getting old or it's a little better than I remember. Still drags all over the place, but the highs are genuine highs if you accept the basic templates of alt-rock. Even "Lightning Crashes," which really annoys me, manages to redeem itself with the amazing climax, with the wailing background vocals and all that. Rockin'. But the best by far is that "TONIGHT TONIGHT COME ON *MOTHERFUCKER!*" song, which is embarassing if you're embarassed by that kind of thing but is otherwise one of the best uses of "motherfucker" ever in music. That guy is really wound up!

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 01:38 (nineteen years ago)

"so they just went with it."

Gad.

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

ahh Mental Jewelry! My friends and I thought that was pretty fierce when we were 14, it being a mostly acoustic record that wasn't intrinsically folky... The mega-seller follow-up (and I suspect every successive release) that was perpetually flogged on alt-radio & MTV - duddest of duds. Also, the guy's voice sucked from day one.

― will, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:36 (nineteen years ago)

i had no idea about the Jerry Harrison connection until now.

― will, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:37 (nineteen years ago)

OMG this is so weird. One of my non-ILX friends just wrote this huge thing out of nowhere about Live and now this thread is getting revived here. I feel like the universe is out to punish me!

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:41 (nineteen years ago)

I got in a fistfight with Live once.

― negotiable, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 02:49 (nineteen years ago)

Find something important to talk about.

!

Most disingenuous remark by a disgruntled-Googler ever?

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 08:58 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, I remember kinda liking "I Alone".

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 09:11 (nineteen years ago)

All I remember besides "I Alone" and "Lightning Crashes" is that single from a few years ago where Tricky is all, "SOMEONE should take your microphone/SOMEONE should take your bubblegum." Rest of the song's crap, though.

― clotpoll, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

At one point I had the flat of the Throwing Copper cover up in my room, and I don't necessarily change the channel when Lakini's Juice comes on the radio.
That's all I got.

― I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

Defense:

At the HFStival in '95, it started raining in between sets. Whoever was in charge of the P.A. put on a whole bunch of rain-themed songs, starting with Lightning Crashes. It was a cool move that brought everybody's spirits up.

I loved the hell out of the "Four Songs" ep, which came out a few months before Mental Jewlery. I think I borrowed the whole album from a friend later and was pretty unimpressed, but the ep was dope.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

throwing copper isn't completely worthless

everything else, i would suggest, is.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

i always really liked this song, but mostly because the way he sings the opening line has always made me laugh hysterically. it's like, 'dude, are you consonant-blind?'

our love is like water
pinned down and abused for being strange
our love is no other
than me alone for me all day
our love is like water/angels pinned down and abused
.
all over you, all over me
the sun, the fields, the sky
I've often tried to hold
the sea the sun, the fields, the tide
pay me now,
lay me down

― the table is the table, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

i'd love to know how it's possible to pin down water

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

I always thought it was "I love thee like water."

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

"I got in a fistfight with Live once."

i WISH i got into a fist-fight w/ Live. just once...

saw this band SO many times (thanks to living in South Central PA), and none of them were memorable or good. (i guess that's redundant)

― edde, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

I still think "Lakini's Juice" is great.

― HI DERE, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

this video=hilarious with the sound off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnGWX0kYgc

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

IM SQUISHING MY FACE FOR MY ARTTTTTT

― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

albino snake! candles!

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

so deep

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

"deep"

― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

i love how his bandmates are half-assedly trying to keep up with his retarded antics

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

i feel bad for them, playing music in an empty forest

― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

all alone with just an albino snake

― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

the desert makes you do crazy things i guess

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

no surprise that three of the world's major religions started there!

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

Live-ianity,
Liveslam,
and Livedaism

― latebloomer, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 100 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

same! what a clusterfuck

― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Sunday, 19 February 2023 03:42 (three years ago)

lol I had to hear abt this from Ned on FB because I would not have opened this thread otherwqis

― obsidian crocogolem (sleeve), Sunday, 19 February 2023 03:43 (three years ago)

You could probably do a whole series of sadness on these 90s type bands from second hand stories I have heard that was in the orbits of Saliva, Days of the New and Kenny Wayne Shepard let alone the more public melt downs.

― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Sunday, 19 February 2023 03:52 (three years ago)

Behind the scenes, however, the band was falling apart. Taylor says Kowalczyk insisted on taking the lion’s share of the publishing money since he was writing most of the songs, causing tension between him and Taylor that never truly went away. On Live’s next album, in 1999, Taylor says, the singer went further, telling the band he would write the songs entirely by himself, using them as mere support musicians. “That ended my creativity in the band,” says Taylor, still pained by the memory. “I felt like a married couple where someone says, ‘I’m no longer going to have sex with you. But we’ll stay married.’ It was one of the saddest moments of my life.”

a The McLennon Thread: what were The Beatles really about? (evidence presented for consideration) moment

― President of Destiny Encounters International (Karl Malone), Sunday, 19 February 2023 04:13 (three years ago)

i am 99% sure i have never heard "Lightning Crashes" until right now, as it plays on youtube as i type this. "I Alone", that one i heard a lot.

― President of Destiny Encounters International (Karl Malone), Sunday, 19 February 2023 04:14 (three years ago)

there's a thread for you now that you've heard it, KM

― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Sunday, 19 February 2023 04:57 (three years ago)

LIGHTNING CRASHES,

― waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Sunday, 19 February 2023 04:58 (three years ago)

loooooool, thank you neanderthal!

https://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q686/tinyservants/Screenshot2013-02-04at82712PM_zpsb3e4f4c1.png

― President of Destiny Encounters International (Karl Malone), Sunday, 19 February 2023 05:01 (three years ago)

one year passes...

Lightning crashes
A new mother cries
Giuliani falls to the floor....

Rudy falls to the floor today at the RNC. pic.twitter.com/h5eke6XEXw
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 16, 2024

― Front-loaded albums are musical gerrymandering (Prefecture), Wednesday, 17 July 2024 00:18 (one year ago)

Dude's stewed on that Lakini Juice...

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 July 2024 00:46 (one year ago)

MOOOORE WIIIIIINE!

― Front-loaded albums are musical gerrymandering (Prefecture), Wednesday, 17 July 2024 04:04 (one year ago)

“I remember entering the room and hearing him sing the word ‘placenta,’ ” Taylor says. “I was like, ‘What the hell is he singing about?’ But back in middle school, when everyone else was at home trying to find their dad’s Playboy, he was reading Eastern philosophy books. He was singing about mysticism and our spiritual journey.”

this makes sense!

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 17 July 2024 14:21 (one year ago)

the way you're bathed in light

― rick beato meato manifesto (Neanderthal), Friday, 26 July 2024 18:55 (one year ago)

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